Personally, Sony has the right to decide what is on the hardware, as does Nintendo and Microsoft.
Just like HP has the right to dictate what ink goes into the printer they made, but you own? What's next? Panasonic deciding your MP3 player should only play songs by bands that they endorse? You blue-ray player only play Hollywood movies with certain ratings? Kenwood requires that you only buy Dempster's bread for it? IE displays only non-porn sites (yeah, imagine that one)
Can't wait for the day where the manufacturers get to call the shots how everything we buy is used for.
Could you please give me a few model numbers to look for? My phone has an alternate ring, but not a silent one. In fact the alternate is more annoying than the regular ring. Vtech, GE, etc?
Some phones let you set a volume for every custom ring, and it's just a matter of setting it to zero. Others let you upload your own ringtone, then it would be just a matter of uploading a blank midi or wav/mp3 file.
I am no a phone enthusiast, so I can't give you an extensive list. Cell phone seem to do better in this area, almost all cell phones now can be uploaded/programmed with your own ring. However I've seen cordless phones capable of this too. Panasonic KX-TG5776S and Vtech i5858 5.8GHz are two cordless phones that I know can do this. I recall seeing a motorola having similar features too.
I want a product or service with which I can set up a -whitelist- of numbers that I allow to make my phone ring. Any number not on the list, or an unlisted phone number, tries to call me, and the phone doesn't ring at all.
Many modern phones already have this feature, in the form of custom ring. Just set the numbers in your contact list that you would like to whitelist to have a ring, and set the default ring to silent.
I've had a similar problem. I took over my mother's telephone line to preserve the number when she left the country to live abroad. For years I've paid the phone bill, but the phone company will not move the account under my name. They also will not let me modify or cancel the account, even with a notarized letter from the account holder.
A while, they decided to add various 'trial packages' to the account, effectively double the bill from $25 per month to $50. When questioned, their 'friendly' rep informed that it was a promotional package, and we just need to cancel it if we don't think it's a good deal... except that we can't cancel it while the account holder is outside the country. Our only option at this point was to stop payment on the account, thus destroy my mother's credit rating in this country, and try to apply for an account under my named... (fat chance with a delinquent account at the same address).
After many futile calls to the uncaring (but friendly!) rep, and going no where fast, we saw the cable company move in to our area with the digital line. I called the cable company, which has been very helpful in the past with my cable and Internet needs, and explained out situation. They gladly took the issue to their hand and somehow made telus finally give up the account and move the number under my name, as a digital phone line, at half the cost as telus would charge, with all the added features I needed. Yeah, fsck off, telus. Hello Shaw.
IMO, 'Feels nature/right' is sometimes very subjective. While some people I know like how the xbox360 controller is laid out, others find it award and uncomfortable. My wife had no trouble working a N64 controller, but it was a hellish nightmare for me.
To me, the one controller that fits my hands and playing habits is the Dual Shock. There wasn't even any 'training myself to contort to the controller', as some have suggested, since I had no problem with it from the start.
I am no ergonomics expert, but I'd venture to guess that people have hands of different shapes and sizes, and therefore no one controller would fit all... (I have yet to see an adjustable one, which may be an exception)
Maybe one day the gaming industry will be big enough that they can release controllers of different sizes for one console.
Yes, it is annoying that different games have different assignment of button functions. What I hate even more, is that the assignments are sometimes different between the North American release and the Japanese release. I often play both version of games I really like to see the original text/voice acting and/or version exclusive ester eggs, and this difference in button assignment just throws me off.
There are some games that allow configuration to button assignment, but it's not always the case, and they don't always let you assign every button.
However, this has nothing to do with the design of the pad. Rather, it is a fault of the game developers who failed to take cue from existing games. Maybe even a lack of policy/guide line for the developers, from the console maker.
Lottery Tickets? Pyrimid Schemes? Informercial diet pills and other psuedo medical/magical items? Spammercial male enhancement products? Cash contribution to cults? Rotten MAFIAA crap?
Plenty of things to keep fools and their money parted.
Re:Time wasted^3 + experience = power
on
Rethinking the MMOG
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Playing most MMORPGs is like playing chess against someone with a teleporting queen while you get three pawns
Maybe the problem is poeple playing MMO are focusing way too much on kicking each other's asses in PvP rather than the coopertive playing that was originally intended?
I run a medium sized guild, or Linkshell, as it's called in the game, that has players of various levels, skills, and dedication. We do events where we work togather for a certain goal, and everyone, no matter how much levels or skills they may have, they uaully find some way to contribute. It doesn't really matter if the guy next to your pawn has a teleporting queen if you are working togather on the same team. I donno about what the majority of the players thesedays want, but I do know that it's more fun for me to play with people who aim to help out each other and work togather, rather than waiting for any chance to frag my buttock whenever my back is turned.
I mean, yeah, there are MMOs where PvP was the whole selling point, but I am not even gonna touch those. IMHO, if you just want to show off your skills, kick people's asses while yelling something obscene, wihout putting many hours to level up your character, maybe a session based game where you get an even battlefield each time, like first person shooters, is a better choice?
It is annoying though that the unarmored models in most CRPG's always has some kind of underwear. I always wanted to play one of my favorite D&D characters (under some custom rules), namely a barbarian character that wore woad. And nothing but.
Remember that most Parent Groups are very small, but very loud, groups! They do not represent the majority of the public, but somehow they always win...
I guess there should be another group consisting of "normal" parents who fight for common sense...
I have a suspicion that the "normal" parents with common sense would be somewhat too busy doing, you know... actual parenting.
The biggest advantage Windows has over everything else is that it will generally work with any hardware or software a person might pick off the shelf of any podunk software store anywhere on earth.
(At some podunk hardware store)
"One type 45 destroyer, and could you put Vista on it please?"
I guess the question he's trying to get at is this: why isn't the game made such that you gain whatever levels you need by the time you get to where you need them?
Because, some people, like myself, may like the fact that there are old school level grind in RPGs? that we think they are an intergral part of RPGs? and that we actually have tons of fun doing it?
I just picked up yet another version of FFV yesterday on GBA. I am about to yet again about to dump some 60 hours to grind my way to max level with all job capped and all that. Why? because I actually enjoy doing it.
I mean, if the games you don't like are selling, maybe some people other than you actually like them?
Having said that, I've noticed that some games are also catering to people who demand instant gratification. FFXI:ToUA missions are basically 'walk here, watch this movie, then head over there, and watch more movie', likely after people went emo over the last expansion, FFXI:CoP, where a huge amount of time and effort is needed to every little bit of progress.
I've learned to enjoy either, but maybe people who only find fun in one or the other should just stick with what they like, and not complain how not every game is made exactly to their personal taste?
Maybe instead of writing "why I hate fantasy RPGs" after forcing yourself play these games you don't really like, just pick up something you do enjoy and have some fun?
No kid in his/her right mind would tell their parents about the swell kegger that Jimmy from up the block is having while his folks are in Europe if they didn't mind their peers kicking their asses.
I did years back when I was still in school. I also saw no need to get stupid and drunk, or drugged up at parties. In exchange, I had free use of the car and no curfew what so ever. The parent/child trust goes both ways. I trusted my parents to understand and they trusted me to make the right decision. It's a wonderful thing when it works right. It's also what I am teaching my son.
I kind feel sorry for people who are convinced that deception and surveillance should be part of a family relationship.
A person with wrist problems in our office has been using a joystick-like mouse for a long time. It's hard to use for me, and gives me a sore elbow. Maybe I am using it wrong, but after having learned how to protect my wrist using a conventional mouse, I would rather not start over and having to learn to protect my elbow from a new product that doesn't offer any real advantage.
Not always...
for example, 'night' and 'knight' have the same pronounciation, but different written forms. So even without context, you can see it's meaning in the written form, this cannot be done in the spoken form.
In Chinese and derivitive languages, a huge number of characters share the same pronounciation, therefore making this more significant.
Because the "sound" of a word in Chinese is pretty much the same as it's meaning. Yes, the characters do have meanings, but in Chinese(for the most part, there are some exceptions) each character only has 1 sound
Um.... no
Some characters have more then 1 pronounciations, and most characters carry more then 1 meaning, depending on context.
Some KVM Switches have KVM dungles that you can buy seperately. This is what we are currently using, and you can get the dungle here . Although the dungles are much more expansive then actual keyboards.
I also found this on a good old google search. The APKME adapter seems to be exactly what you are looking for.
A Desktop KVM switch is a lot cheaper, but it might be a bit unsightly.
Master? What master? Usually the people who are actually coding the website are so far down the chain of command, they are not the master of anything.
Infact, it felt more like webslave to me.
Equipment Failure. (M16's really don't like sand.)
Boredom. (For most of the battle, you are just sitting there.)
Running around in chem suits under a desert sun.
well, I donno about you, but I get those just fine.
* Lack of Sleep
Lack of sleep is a given for many players. I have had teamates drifting to sleep in battles every now and then.
* Equipment Failure
I really don't see why a game can't simulate this. Set a probablity of failure on the weapon as a function of terrain, and a state flag on the weapon. It's simulated.
* Boredom
Depending on the mission senario, you may be required to wait it out while your partners complete some task. However, since the point of the game is to keep people entertained, a well designed mission should have too much of this.
* Running around in chem suit under a desert sun
Over clocked AMD in a cramped AC-less room in a hot summer day.
What if she is not able to beat level 1? Most of the girl 'gamers' I know pretty much plays things like pokemon and FFX-2. They would get pwned by donky kong and fly the game out of the window due to all that frustration.
Maybe he should also heck the game so Mario uses god mode?
Quoting the article: Consider these facts: The land area of Texas is some 262,000 square miles* and current UN estimates of the world's population (for 12 October 1999) are about 6 billion.** By converting square miles to square feet -- remember to multiply by 5,280 feet per mile twice -- and dividing by the world's population, one readily finds that there are more than 1,217 square feet per capita.
A family of 5 would thus occupy more than 6,085 square feet of living space. Even in Texas, that's a mansion.
So.... everyone will be living there with no roads, no parks, no schools, no public installations such as waste management and energy generation facilities, no shops/fctories/other work places or any other non-living area? We kinda need to take all the overhead into concideration.
Also what about geographical features such as rivers, lakes, mountains, and unstable formations which you simply cannot build upon?
Not just physicists. Technically, no man of science could claim to know exactly "what's going on". We have an explaination that's most probable based on what we know so far, and that's pretty much it.
As soon as someone thinks he knows it for sure, without doubt, it stops being a persue of science, and becomes a believe... a faith if you will.
What I do is to have machines set up specifically for games. On these windows gaming consoles everyone is an administrator. I retain a copy of the image of the last good install so that I can go back that to very quickly in the event of 'oops'.
If you only have 1 'good PC' and you want to do work on it as well as play? Just dual boot and store your data files on a file server, which can be your old PC with an over-sized harddrive.
Slashdot Mirror
Personally, Sony has the right to decide what is on the hardware, as does Nintendo and Microsoft.
Just like HP has the right to dictate what ink goes into the printer they made, but you own? What's next? Panasonic deciding your MP3 player should only play songs by bands that they endorse? You blue-ray player only play Hollywood movies with certain ratings? Kenwood requires that you only buy Dempster's bread for it? IE displays only non-porn sites (yeah, imagine that one)
Can't wait for the day where the manufacturers get to call the shots how everything we buy is used for.
Could you please give me a few model numbers to look for? My phone has an alternate ring, but not a silent one. In fact the alternate is more annoying than the regular ring. Vtech, GE, etc?
Some phones let you set a volume for every custom ring, and it's just a matter of setting it to zero. Others let you upload your own ringtone, then it would be just a matter of uploading a blank midi or wav/mp3 file.
I am no a phone enthusiast, so I can't give you an extensive list. Cell phone seem to do better in this area, almost all cell phones now can be uploaded/programmed with your own ring. However I've seen cordless phones capable of this too. Panasonic KX-TG5776S and Vtech i5858 5.8GHz are two cordless phones that I know can do this. I recall seeing a motorola having similar features too.
I am using a hiptop2, which when set to vibrate, vibrates based on the selected ringtone. So when a silent tone is selected, it won't vibrate at all.
I want a product or service with which I can set up a -whitelist- of numbers that I allow to make my phone ring. Any number not on the list, or an unlisted phone number, tries to call me, and the phone doesn't ring at all.
Many modern phones already have this feature, in the form of custom ring. Just set the numbers in your contact list that you would like to whitelist to have a ring, and set the default ring to silent.
I've had a similar problem. I took over my mother's telephone line to preserve the number when she left the country to live abroad. For years I've paid the phone bill, but the phone company will not move the account under my name. They also will not let me modify or cancel the account, even with a notarized letter from the account holder. A while, they decided to add various 'trial packages' to the account, effectively double the bill from $25 per month to $50. When questioned, their 'friendly' rep informed that it was a promotional package, and we just need to cancel it if we don't think it's a good deal... except that we can't cancel it while the account holder is outside the country. Our only option at this point was to stop payment on the account, thus destroy my mother's credit rating in this country, and try to apply for an account under my named... (fat chance with a delinquent account at the same address). After many futile calls to the uncaring (but friendly!) rep, and going no where fast, we saw the cable company move in to our area with the digital line. I called the cable company, which has been very helpful in the past with my cable and Internet needs, and explained out situation. They gladly took the issue to their hand and somehow made telus finally give up the account and move the number under my name, as a digital phone line, at half the cost as telus would charge, with all the added features I needed. Yeah, fsck off, telus. Hello Shaw.
IMO, 'Feels nature/right' is sometimes very subjective. While some people I know like how the xbox360 controller is laid out, others find it award and uncomfortable. My wife had no trouble working a N64 controller, but it was a hellish nightmare for me. To me, the one controller that fits my hands and playing habits is the Dual Shock. There wasn't even any 'training myself to contort to the controller', as some have suggested, since I had no problem with it from the start. I am no ergonomics expert, but I'd venture to guess that people have hands of different shapes and sizes, and therefore no one controller would fit all... (I have yet to see an adjustable one, which may be an exception) Maybe one day the gaming industry will be big enough that they can release controllers of different sizes for one console.
Yes, it is annoying that different games have different assignment of button functions. What I hate even more, is that the assignments are sometimes different between the North American release and the Japanese release. I often play both version of games I really like to see the original text/voice acting and/or version exclusive ester eggs, and this difference in button assignment just throws me off. There are some games that allow configuration to button assignment, but it's not always the case, and they don't always let you assign every button. However, this has nothing to do with the design of the pad. Rather, it is a fault of the game developers who failed to take cue from existing games. Maybe even a lack of policy/guide line for the developers, from the console maker.
Well, for one thing sometimes it is nice to know if your employees are currently breaking the law.
Last I checked, eating a poppy seed beagle is still legal in most places.
i kept asking for a stupidity-tax.
Lottery Tickets? Pyrimid Schemes? Informercial diet pills and other psuedo medical/magical items? Spammercial male enhancement products? Cash contribution to cults? Rotten MAFIAA crap?
Plenty of things to keep fools and their money parted.
Playing most MMORPGs is like playing chess against someone with a teleporting queen while you get three pawns
Maybe the problem is poeple playing MMO are focusing way too much on kicking each other's asses in PvP rather than the coopertive playing that was originally intended?
I run a medium sized guild, or Linkshell, as it's called in the game, that has players of various levels, skills, and dedication. We do events where we work togather for a certain goal, and everyone, no matter how much levels or skills they may have, they uaully find some way to contribute. It doesn't really matter if the guy next to your pawn has a teleporting queen if you are working togather on the same team. I donno about what the majority of the players thesedays want, but I do know that it's more fun for me to play with people who aim to help out each other and work togather, rather than waiting for any chance to frag my buttock whenever my back is turned.
I mean, yeah, there are MMOs where PvP was the whole selling point, but I am not even gonna touch those. IMHO, if you just want to show off your skills, kick people's asses while yelling something obscene, wihout putting many hours to level up your character, maybe a session based game where you get an even battlefield each time, like first person shooters, is a better choice?
It is annoying though that the unarmored models in most CRPG's always has some kind of underwear. I always wanted to play one of my favorite D&D characters (under some custom rules), namely a barbarian character that wore woad. And nothing but.
Maybe you are looking for this?
Remember that most Parent Groups are very small, but very loud, groups! They do not represent the majority of the public, but somehow they always win...
I guess there should be another group consisting of "normal" parents who fight for common sense...
I have a suspicion that the "normal" parents with common sense would be somewhat too busy doing, you know... actual parenting.
The biggest advantage Windows has over everything else is that it will generally work with any hardware or software a person might pick off the shelf of any podunk software store anywhere on earth.
(At some podunk hardware store)
"One type 45 destroyer, and could you put Vista on it please?"
I guess the question he's trying to get at is this: why isn't the game made such that you gain whatever levels you need by the time you get to where you need them?
Because, some people, like myself, may like the fact that there are old school level grind in RPGs? that we think they are an intergral part of RPGs? and that we actually have tons of fun doing it?
I just picked up yet another version of FFV yesterday on GBA. I am about to yet again about to dump some 60 hours to grind my way to max level with all job capped and all that. Why? because I actually enjoy doing it.
I mean, if the games you don't like are selling, maybe some people other than you actually like them?
Having said that, I've noticed that some games are also catering to people who demand instant gratification. FFXI:ToUA missions are basically 'walk here, watch this movie, then head over there, and watch more movie', likely after people went emo over the last expansion, FFXI:CoP, where a huge amount of time and effort is needed to every little bit of progress.
I've learned to enjoy either, but maybe people who only find fun in one or the other should just stick with what they like, and not complain how not every game is made exactly to their personal taste?
Maybe instead of writing "why I hate fantasy RPGs" after forcing yourself play these games you don't really like, just pick up something you do enjoy and have some fun?
No kid in his/her right mind would tell their parents about the swell kegger that Jimmy from up the block is having while his folks are in Europe if they didn't mind their peers kicking their asses.
I did years back when I was still in school. I also saw no need to get stupid and drunk, or drugged up at parties. In exchange, I had free use of the car and no curfew what so ever. The parent/child trust goes both ways. I trusted my parents to understand and they trusted me to make the right decision. It's a wonderful thing when it works right. It's also what I am teaching my son.
I kind feel sorry for people who are convinced that deception and surveillance should be part of a family relationship.
A person with wrist problems in our office has been using a joystick-like mouse for a long time. It's hard to use for me, and gives me a sore elbow. Maybe I am using it wrong, but after having learned how to protect my wrist using a conventional mouse, I would rather not start over and having to learn to protect my elbow from a new product that doesn't offer any real advantage.
Not always...
for example, 'night' and 'knight' have the same pronounciation, but different written forms. So even without context, you can see it's meaning in the written form, this cannot be done in the spoken form.
In Chinese and derivitive languages, a huge number of characters share the same pronounciation, therefore making this more significant.
Because the "sound" of a word in Chinese is pretty much the same as it's meaning. Yes, the characters do have meanings, but in Chinese(for the most part, there are some exceptions) each character only has 1 sound
Um.... no
Some characters have more then 1 pronounciations, and most characters carry more then 1 meaning, depending on context.
Some KVM Switches have KVM dungles that you can buy seperately. This is what we are currently using, and you can get the dungle here . Although the dungles are much more expansive then actual keyboards.
I also found this on a good old google search. The APKME adapter seems to be exactly what you are looking for.
A Desktop KVM switch is a lot cheaper, but it might be a bit unsightly.
Master? What master? Usually the people who are actually coding the website are so far down the chain of command, they are not the master of anything. Infact, it felt more like webslave to me.
well, I donno about you, but I get those just fine.
* Lack of Sleep
Lack of sleep is a given for many players. I have had teamates drifting to sleep in battles every now and then.
* Equipment Failure
I really don't see why a game can't simulate this. Set a probablity of failure on the weapon as a function of terrain, and a state flag on the weapon. It's simulated.
* Boredom
Depending on the mission senario, you may be required to wait it out while your partners complete some task. However, since the point of the game is to keep people entertained, a well designed mission should have too much of this.
* Running around in chem suit under a desert sun
Over clocked AMD in a cramped AC-less room in a hot summer day.
so that when the first level is completed
What if she is not able to beat level 1? Most of the girl 'gamers' I know pretty much plays things like pokemon and FFX-2. They would get pwned by donky kong and fly the game out of the window due to all that frustration.
Maybe he should also heck the game so Mario uses god mode?
Heck everyone can fit in Texas
Quoting the article:
Consider these facts: The land area of Texas is some 262,000 square miles* and current UN estimates of the world's population (for 12 October 1999) are about 6 billion.** By converting square miles to square feet -- remember to multiply by 5,280 feet per mile twice -- and dividing by the world's population, one readily finds that there are more than 1,217 square feet per capita. A family of 5 would thus occupy more than 6,085 square feet of living space. Even in Texas, that's a mansion.
So.... everyone will be living there with no roads, no parks, no schools, no public installations such as waste management and energy generation facilities, no shops/fctories/other work places or any other non-living area? We kinda need to take all the overhead into concideration.
Also what about geographical features such as rivers, lakes, mountains, and unstable formations which you simply cannot build upon?
"Physicists are not quite sure what's going on."
Not just physicists. Technically, no man of science could claim to know exactly "what's going on". We have an explaination that's most probable based on what we know so far, and that's pretty much it.
As soon as someone thinks he knows it for sure, without doubt, it stops being a persue of science, and becomes a believe... a faith if you will.
What I do is to have machines set up specifically for games. On these windows gaming consoles everyone is an administrator. I retain a copy of the image of the last good install so that I can go back that to very quickly in the event of 'oops'. If you only have 1 'good PC' and you want to do work on it as well as play? Just dual boot and store your data files on a file server, which can be your old PC with an over-sized harddrive.